Chapter 9: The Provocation of Ma Fei (New Book Seeking Attention)

  With Chen Feng's command, the pointer began to rotate. When Chen Feng silently counted to 6 in his heart, he quickly shouted "Stop".

  Tensely watching the pointer go over one by one item and slowly come to a stop, finally stopping on the Fort Construction Order, Chen Feng suddenly let out a breath.

  Although this fortress construction order is not what Chen Feng needs most now, but with the war about to start, if there really is a fortress that will never fall, it would be great.

  "The host has obtained a fortress construction order, would you like to use it immediately?" The intelligent sprite prompted.

  "Will this construction order disappear if it is temporarily not used?" Chen Feng asked back.

  "No, if the host refuses to use it immediately, the construction order will be temporarily stored in the system space. Later, when the host needs to use it, they can extract it from the system space at any time."

  "That's good, let's temporarily preserve the construction order." Chen Feng said.

  When Chen Feng checked the system again, he found that his personal attributes had changed.

  Host: Chen Feng

  Height: 181cm

  Branch: Army

  Military rank: None

  Strength: 30 (three times that of an ordinary person)

  Agility: 15 (stronger than ordinary people)

  Intelligence: 19 (Stronger than ordinary people)

  Skills: Intermediate Marksmanship, Primary Driving, Primary Hand-to-Hand Combat, Intermediate Chinese, Primary English, Primary War Command, Primary War Strategy, Primary Cooking

  The honor part remains unchanged, and the system reward is closed again.

  After checking the system, Chen Feng found that his height had actually increased by 1cm compared to the last time he checked, and his strength had undergone new changes. Especially the label at the back, his strength was three times that of an ordinary person. It seems that the system's default value for ordinary people should be around 10, which gave Chen Feng a new understanding of his own strength.

  Although his strength is three times that of an ordinary person, it does not mean that Chen Feng's combat power is three times that of an ordinary person. Combat power is a comprehensive measure of a person's strength, wisdom, agility and fighting skills, and Chen Feng's various aspects far exceed those of ordinary people, so Chen Feng's combat power is by no means comparable to that of three ordinary people.

  Chen Feng estimated that if he were unarmed, he could take down more than 15 ordinary soldiers. If given a sniper rifle, in the mountains and forests, he would be the king of the forest, and even on flat ground, no one could take him down unless the enemy had strong artillery coverage.

  But as he came to, Chen Feng was once again overcome with a sense of powerlessness. No matter how strong one person was, what could they do against thousands or tens of thousands of armed enemies?

  It's already mid-March, and it's been less than four months since the Lugou Bridge Incident. The atmosphere in North China has become very strange and unpredictable. On the surface, everything seems calm, but beneath the surface, there are stormy undercurrents.

  However, these did not affect Chen Feng. What he had to do now was to train his troops intensively and make the most of the time to train his army. There was no other way. Although he currently had nearly 5,000 combat personnel under him, except for the 2,000-strong Grain Protection Team from the Chen family, which already had some fighting power, whether it was the Security Regiment on the surface or the 2,000 troops in the Dà Qīng Shān base underground, they could only be considered armed farmers. The vast majority of people didn't even know how to fire a gun, let alone engage in fierce battles with the Japanese elite troops, which would be no different from suicide.

  Xinghe County Government

  "Commander Chen has time to come to our county government today, is it because of a lack of food and salary?" County Magistrate Feng Kaisan said with a smile.

  "Ah, Uncle Feng, you've really made things difficult for your nephew. To be honest with you, the grain ration is indeed in short supply, but at present there's something even more urgent than the grain ration that I need to discuss with you." Chen Feng said with a smile.

  "Oh, what could be more urgent than grain rations?" Feng Kaisan asked.

  "It's the bandits' problem." Chen Feng said.

  "Haha, isn't that just a bandit? In those days and in that place, there were only a few powerful people who occupied the mountains as kings. As long as they didn't come to attack our Xinghe County county seat, it was fine. What's wrong, young master, do you want to go suppress the bandits?" Feng Kaisan said nonchalantly.

  "That's not the case, suppressing bandits is a thankless task. If you win, it's fine, and naturally there will be rewards from above. But if you lose, that's not good, just like Li De Guang, the commander of the big regiment, who not only failed to suppress the bandits but also lost his life." Chen Feng said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's like this, two days ago on the east side of the big green mountain, a pole was erected with a flag that read 'Replace Heaven and Walk the Way'. Yesterday, this group of bandits robbed a caravan from Zhang's large fabric store."

  "Zhang's Big Cloth Store, that Zhang's Big Cloth Store, is there a cloth store with the surname Zhang in Xinghe County?" Feng Kaisan said doubtfully.

  "It's not from our place, it's from Zhangbei County, Zhang Jia Da Bu Hang, the old boss is called Zhang Ba Hu, I think he used to be a follower of General Liu Yi Fei, the former chairman of Chaha'er Province, later settled in Zhangbei and established this Zhang Jia Da Bu Hang." Chen Feng explained.

  "It's the Zhang family textile mill, this bandit is not ordinary. I heard that every convoy of the Zhang family textile mill has a team of armed guards escorting them, have you investigated clearly how many people are in this bandit?" Feng Kaisan was somewhat nervous now, this Dacheng Mountain is only 25 kilometers away from Xinghe County, and it would take at most an hour and a half to get there on horseback.

  "They've all been investigated, this bandit gang is from the Northeast and fled here. The leader's name is Zuo Shan, he was a notorious outlaw in the Northeast. Now that the Japanese have occupied the Northeast, they were bullied by the Japanese and couldn't take it anymore, so they ran to our side. They don't have many people, only around 800-900, but their equipment is good, besides rifles, they also have machine guns and small cannons. The Zhang family's entire gun squad was disarmed in less than a quarter of an hour, not to mention the convoy being robbed, even Zhang's youngest son was taken hostage." Chen Feng said.

  This thing was done by Chen Feng on purpose, letting Xu Hu and others handle it. The Japanese left little time for Chen Feng, who must make the most of these few months. Although robbing ordinary merchants is somewhat immoral, for the sake of the nation and to resist the war, he can't care about that much anymore.

  Chen Feng had also made inquiries, and the Zhang family in Zhangbei County was not a good merchant. Since Old Man Zhang was a retired military officer, he had a strong and arrogant attitude, relying on his guns to act recklessly in the local area. His sons were even worse, bullying men and women, doing all sorts of evil things. Chen Feng didn't feel any guilt about robbing such a landlord like him.

  "What's this, so many people? That's still manageable, big nephew. Tell your uncle, how many men are in your security team? If they come to fight, can you defend the county town?" Feng Kai asked anxiously.

  "Enough, Uncle. To be honest with you, my security team has only over a thousand people, and the number is indeed more than those bandits. However, winning a battle isn't just about having more people. My men are all newly recruited refugees, pale and thin, still limping when they walk. And as for our equipment, it's even worse. I've spent all my savings to buy some weapons and gear, but compared to those bandits, we're still far inferior. If we really engage in battle, the chances of winning are slim." Chen Feng said with his head hung low.

  He didn't lie indeed. If the troops on the Daqing Mountain came to attack Xinghe County, the Security Regiment would indeed be no match for Xu Hu's men.

  "What's to be done? That gang of bandits even dares to rob the goods from Zhang's large fabric store, who can guarantee they won't dare attack the county town?" Feng Kaisan said anxiously.

  "Alright, let's do it this way, Uncle Feng. I'll go back and start recruiting again, while you're in charge of asking for some weapons and equipment from above, as well as food and salary. We can't just let those bandits occupy the county town, after all, our roots are also here, we can't afford to lose it!" Chen Feng said.

  "Alright, nephew, I'm counting on you. I'll try my best to get the equipment and supplies from above, don't worry about food and pay, it will be delivered to your camp within three days at most." Feng Kai Shan patted his chest to guarantee.

  "Thanks, Uncle Feng. I still have military duties to attend to, so I'll take my leave!" Since the purpose of this trip had been achieved, Chen Feng was also preparing to bid farewell.

  "Alright then..."

  "Oh no, Master, oh no..." Feng Kai's words had not finished when a young man rushed in from outside, looking flustered and panicked, dressed like one of the Feng family's servants.

  "Feng San'er, what's going on? You're running around like a headless chicken!" Feng Kai-shan shouted angrily.

  "Master, something terrible has happened! Our family's convoy has been hijacked and Young Master Biao has also been murdered."

  "What are you talking about? You said Xiao Teng is dead. This can't be..." Feng Kaisan spoke incoherently.

  Chen Feng learned from his father that Feng Keshan had only one daughter and no sons, so he treated his cousin's eldest son as if he were his own, always keeping him by his side. Who would have thought something like this would happen?

  "Are you Feng San? Speak slowly and tell me the details of what happened." Chen Feng knew that Feng Kai Shan's mind was already in a mess, so he basically couldn't ask anything out of him.

  "It's like this, the tea shop assistant just came back to report that they were attacked by horse bandits on the road. They fought and retreated, and during the retreat, Young Master Biao was hit in the head by a stray bullet and died on the spot..." Feng San was just a low-ranking servant in the mansion and didn't know much, he just repeated what he knew.

  "Where's the young lady, she...she..." Feng Kaisan suddenly remembered that his precious daughter was with his nephew Xu Ting, and he had just lost his beloved nephew, so he absolutely couldn't let anything unexpected happen to his daughter.

  "Miss... Miss... The miss was also caught by those bandits, I heard from the tea shop's apprentice that they want them to pass a message to Master, asking Master to open the city gate and welcome them into the city. If not, they will come and attack themselves." Feng San said again.

  "Ah..." Upon hearing the bad news, Feng Kaisan suddenly slumped into his chair, staring blankly ahead with a vacant expression, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

  Just as things were not yet settled, a security guard wearing camouflage uniform rushed in from outside the door and saluted Chen Feng with a military salute, saying: "Report to Commander, I am Li Erhu, platoon leader of the 2nd Platoon of the 2nd Company of the 1st Infantry Battalion. Just now, our platoon was on guard duty at the city gate when we received a letter for the commander."

  "What letter? What did it say?" Chen Feng asked.

  "This letter is for the commander, we didn't dare to read it."

  "The letter is there, bring it!"

  Taking the letter handed over by Li Erhu, Chen Feng opened it and saw that there were only a few simple sentences written on it: "Chen family's young master, wants to marry Feng Kai's daughter, decisive battle at Huangshi Cliff in three days."

  The security team is about to take action, brothers, what are you waiting for, recommend rewards and hurry up...